The Story of XM-01
by amber.vasami
Summary: Dr. Eggman has just created a successor to Metal Sonic, but will this new robot be yet another psychotic killing machine or will it choose an entirely different path? This story starts out with mostly OCs, but official characters are likely to appear later. Story rated T for very brief mention of animal blood. Please R&R
1. Eggman's Magnum Opus?

**CHAPTER 1 - EGGMAN'S MAGNUM OPUS?**

Somewhere deep in the frigid wasteland of the Holoskan wilderness stood a large structure made of concrete and steel. This facility contained features of both a factory and a military base, with large smokestacks on top of the roof belching noxious fumes into the air and arrays of security scanners and heavy firepower mounted on every wall. Hundreds of somewhat egg-shaped combat robots patrolled the perimeter of this complex, tirelessly guarding against any sort of intrusion that threatened to interfere with the facility's operations.

The inside of this facility was just as heavily guarded as the outside, if not even moreso. Robots even more imposing than the ones outside marched throughout the building's corridors with weapons ready to gun down anyone who managed to get through the outer defenses. Less intimidating hovering robots buzzed around the network of conveyor belts that crisscrossed the facility, carrying the components of all sorts of machines currently in production as mechanical arms worked to put them together.

Beyond this vast, heavily-defended manufacturing complex was a large steel door with a distinctive emblem emblazoned on it. This curious sigil vaguely resembled a grinning face with round glasses and an impressive mustache: The logo of the Eggman Empire. It was beyond this door that the leader of this Empire, the notorious criminal mastermind known as Dr. Eggman, either worked on or oversaw work on his most important and specialized projects.

Currently, the focal point of this room was a rather powerful-looking robot who appeared to be based on the body of a male Anthro Hedgehog. This robot was primarily a bright metallic red color, with chrome silver on its muzzle, inner ears, upper arms, waist, and upper legs. Its main torso was fairly simple, consisting of a red chest with an indentation dividing it in half, a simple chrome beam for a midsection, and a red pelvic section with a yellow inverted triangle in the center. A pair of arms consisting of simple chrome beams connected to bulky red forearms with segmented yellow stripe accents running down the sides were connected to this torso by chrome ball joints. The left arm ended in a silver-barreled cannon while the left ended in a large, three-digit claw composed of razor-sharp blades. This machines legs were connected by similar ball joints and possessed a similar style to the arms, being simple beams connected to bulky lower legs. These ended in red "boots" with single silver stripes that ran down the middle. The head, though, was what really connected this robot to its organic template. It was large in comparison to the shoulders it stood on. Six metallic protrusions emerged from the back of the head, each one having a sharp silver blade on its underside. On the front was a mouthless chrome muzzle that appeared to be bolted to the head at the cheeks. A pointed spike "nose" sat in the center of this imitation muzzle, serving no apparent purpose other than perhaps to make the machine look more intimidating. Above this was a black visor in the shape of scowling Hedgehog eyes. Between these eyes was a blue crystal-like protrusion that contained a solar panel that the robot could use to recharge itself. Finally, to complete the Hedgehog look, a pair of perked triangular ears sat on top of the head.

This imposing machine was currently in standby mode and encased in a tube made of green tinted glass with a metal panel in the back. A metal plug protruded from this panel and was connected to a small port in the nape of the robot's neck. A number of wires ran from the back of this tube to the computer equipment surrounding it and served to feed data into the robot's electronic brain and monitor its functions to make sure nothing went awry during the data feeding and programming process.

Suddenly, the large door opened with a hiss, and an obese man clad in a red jacket and black pants strolled in, stroking the right side of his large, unkempt reddish-brown mustache as he did so. The man stopped in front of the large computer monitor that was positioned to the right of the sleeping robot. He began to stroke his mustache more quickly as he scanned over the text and progress bars on the screen.

"Ahh...Everything seems to be going well," he said to himself. "There's still quite a bit left to do, but when it's all complete, THIS will be my ultimate fighting machine! Experimental Metallix Unit 01! It'll put that failure Metal Sonic to-"

The madman's boastful monologue was interrupted by a beeping of a communicator he wore under his right wrist cuff. He turned away from the monitor with a low grunting growl, pressed a button on his communicator, and brought it up to his mouth. "Proceed," he commanded.

"Egg Gunner 224-180 reporting. Priority-One target approaching-"

The robot's monotonous synthetic voice was cut off by static, indicating that either this target knocked out its communication system or destroyed it altogether. Knowing this Priority-One target all too well, the obese genius could safely assume that the latter had happened. "Not that irritating Hedgehog again," he grumbled as he stormed out of the room, once again leaving the programming process of his newest creation unattended.

For the next hour or so, while Eggman was away, the programming process continued without a hitch. Unfortunately, it seemed that the fat terrorist was just tempting fate by leaving hsi new creation unattended for too long. A text box with a red border suddenly popped up on the screen and would have instantly caught Eggman's attention were he still present in the room.

"WARNING! PROGRAM CONFIGURATION ERROR!" read the text box as sirens began to blare. The green tinted glass tube suddenly shot up, and a pair of glowing blue ovals appeared on the Experimental Metallix's black visor, serving as imitation pupils as well as an indication that the robot was now fully active.

The Experimental Metallix was quick to step out of the open tube and scan its surroundings. From what it could gather, it was in a fairly large enclosure full of electronic equipment that it couldn't identify. Faced with this situation, the robot's data-gathering protocols activated. It walked over to the main console where Eggman had stood earlier and looked at the screen. "Warning! Program configuration error!" It read out loud, its voice somewhat monotone, but inflected enough to convey a sense of curiosity. "What is a program configuration error?"

Silence. The robot got no response.

"Please respond. What is a program configuration error," the machine repeated, not knowing that the machines in the room could not respond to him. It looked down at the keyboard and the other arrays of buttons on the console, quickly hypothesizing that these were input devices. It then placed its claw on the keyboard and attempted to type out its question, but due to its claws not really being designed for typing, it missed the keys entirely and impaled the rubbery pad that served to transfer pressure from the plastic keys to the electronic contacts underneath. This caused the electrically-conductive claws to come into contact with the current traveling through the console, shocking its sensitive electronics and causing it fall backwards as its systems attempted to protect themselves from the power surge. This left the robot disoriented for a bit and caused it to stumble onto the floor and withdraw its claw from the console.

About 30 seconds later, the robot regained its bearings and pulled itself back up into a standing position. Its directive was clear, at least in its own mind. It was to gather data on its surroundings, as well as find out what exactly "Program Configuration Error" meant, and whether or not it applied to it. It scanned the room again, eventually focusing on the large door that separated it from the rest of the base. It approached this door, which opened with a hiss to grant him access to the sprawling factory beyond it. As soon as it walked out, it was approached by one of the hovering robots that monitored the assembly lines. This machine, as per its programming, scanned over the Experimental Metallix while consulting its internal database of all active projects currently in production.

"Subject identified as Experimental Metallix Unit 01," the hover-bot announced. "Estimated time of activation reported to be 1600 hours. Activation: Premature. Accessing project log XM-01...Program Configuration Error reported."

"What is a Program Configuration Error?" XM asked yet again, assuming that, if this machine could speak, it could also hear.

"Experimental Metallix Unit 01 labeled defective. Relaying instructions to all security units," the machine continued. "Defective unit must not escape facility. Defective unit is to be neutralized, but not terminated."

"Program Configuration Error...is a defect? I am a defective unit? I am to be neutralized?"

Not long after speaking these words, XM found itself surrounded by the factory's guard-bots. This triggered a self-preservation protocol in the Experimental Metallix's programming. Its directive was now to escape to avoid neutralization. Its engine immediately revved to full power, propelling it forward at speeds that quickly shattered the sound barrier and causing XM to mow down all the robots in front of it as it zoomed through the facility, looking for an exit. Every remaining guard-bot in the factory attempted to pursue the wayward Metallix, but were unable to match its supersonic speed.

"Defective unit escaping" droned one of the guard-bots. "Objective: Neutralize. Do not terminate. Activating Stun Shot," it foolishly announced as its right hand was replaced with a taser-like weapon, which it fired at the fleeing XM.

XM, detecting the faint sound of the taser-like shot approaching it, quickly sidestepped out of its path before before continuing its run for the exit. This caused the projectile to lodge itself into the casing of another guard-bot, causing it to shut down and collapse onto the floor. Other guard-bots also attempted to bring XM down with the same type of weapon, but met with similar results due to the machine's impressive reflexes. It was obvious that these robots were ill-equipped to deal with something like XM.

Eventually, XM made its way to the exit. Unlike the previous door, though, this one did not open for XM. A red light shone from the console next to the door, indicating that the facility was now in full lockdown. It soon found itself cornered by guard-bots, who all aimed their Stun Shots at it. Instinctively, the powerful jet engine in XM's back propelled the machine upward just as the guard-bots launched their taser projectiles. Most of them lodged themselves in other robots, but one lodged itself into the lock on the door, disabling it and allowing XM to escape

As soon as XM was out the door, the guard-bots surrounding the factory attempted to bring it down, just as the ones inside had. Unfortunately, they too were ill-equipped to stop their quarry from escaping out into the wintery wilderness.


	2. Destruction is an Error

**CHAPTER 2 - DESTRUCTION IS AN ERROR**

It had been a little over a day since XM-01 escaped the Holoskan Egg Base where it was created. It had now made its way to the more temperate south-central region of the United Federation. Having shaken pursuing Eggbots, the wandering machine was now driven by its curiosity yet again and decided to land in a forest just outside the city of Truman. It quickly noticed that the terrain here was not perfectly smooth like the floors of Eggman's base. Fortunately, its balance servos adjusted to this terrain within a split-second, allowing XM to walk steadily along the trails of dirt and grass. As the robot walked, it took in every sight and sound around it, though it could not identify any of these inputs. It could make some observations though. Not only was the terrain here not as smooth as the floors of Eggman's base, but each of its steps made a different sound when coming into contact with it. The wandering machine looked down at the ground, which was mostly covered in millions of green filaments that seemed to be making rustling sounds as it stepped on them. It reached down and ran its claw over the ground, causing some of these green filaments to break. "Unidentified green filaments are fragile," it observed out loud. XM then looked up at a nearby tree, quickly noticing that it was topped with thousands of protrusions that were a similar shade of green to the "unidentified green filaments" it was walking on. Wanting to gather more data, XM flew up and grabbed hold of one of the "protrusions," puncturing it with its claws and causing it to snap off of the branch it had been attached to. "Green protrusions are also fragile," the robot audibly observed before landing and walking in a different direction until it approached a garbage can. The Metallix inquisitively looked down into the metallic container, which contained a large assortment of soiled napkins, food wrappers, and empty bottles and cans that had once contained various beverages.

"QuikStop Icee Black Cherry Grape? Diet Dr. Ginger? Chaos Cola?" It read aloud. "What are these?" XM impulsively picked up the empty Diet Dr. Ginger can and studied it. It was hollow, and there was a hole in one end. It was a container, and its contents had been removed. The robot then placed the can back into the larger container and pulled out a small empty bag. "Ripplez BBQ," its label read. Below this label was a photo of a handful of wavy potato chips. This must have also been a container that once contained the items pictured. XM continued to sift through and study the contents of the garbage can until it heard something that sounded like liquid beating against the metallic casing of its leg. Upon hearing this sound, the curious Metallix turned its attention away from the trash and toward a small brown dog that was urinating on its leg.

"Greetings," spoke the machine, thinking that the dog was greeting him by peeing on him. "I am designated Experimental Metallix Unit 01. I am gathering data on my current surroundings. What is QuikStop Icee Black Cherry Grape? What is Chaos Cola? What is Diet Dr. Ginger?"

The dog tilted its head to the side, indicating that it could hear XM, but not necessarily understand it.

"Can you respond, creature?"

The dog simply stood up on its hind legs and ran its front claws down XM's leg, creating a slight clanking sound. The robot responded by tilting its head to the side in a similar fashion and attempting to run its claw down the dog's back. Unfortunately, this caused the dog to yelp in pain before collapsing to the ground, bleeding rather profusely. "That was...not intended..." the robot stated out loud as it backed away from the seriously-injured animal. "Error. Error," it continued, its voice becoming quieter each time the word "error" was repeated. As it did this, it recalled what happened in the past each time it tried to touch something with its claws. "I was created...to destroy," it concluded. "Destruction...is an error, but I am created to destroy. Is that why I am defective?"

XM briefly looked back at the dog before walking away, still trying to wrap its young mind around what had just happened. What would it do now? Could this dog be fixed? Would it be possible to be modified so that the error of destruction would not occur again? The robot continued to walk, eventually wandering out into a middle class suburban neighborhood. Could someone there help it out?


	3. The Hacker Girl

**CHAPTER 3 - THE HACKER GIRL**

Among the fairly well-kept homes of the neighborhood which XM entered was that of Truman Homicide Detective Janae Vasquez, her auto mechanic husband Dan, and their two teenage children, Brandy and Amber. Brandy was a fairly average 14-year-old girl with a love of gangsta rap and R&B music, as well as dancing, fashion, and hanging out with her friends. Unfortunately, though, she applied herself more to these things, and to trying to attract the attention of whatever boy caught her fancy, than she spent on schoolwork. This caused her grades to suffer quite a bit. As a result, she was often hounded by her parents to apply herself more to her schoolwork. Her older sister, Amber, meanwhile, was much more of an intellectual type. When she wasn't studying or doing schoolwork, she was hacking the various electronic toys she had received throughout her childhood, as well as whatever other electronic devices her parents didn't mind her hacking. When she wasn't doing this, she was either playing classic video games or watching various science-fiction TV shows and movies, typically dealing with robotic protagonists. It was this girl's bedroom that XM eventually found itself peeking into through the window.

In contrast to her younger sister's fairly average-looking bedroom across the hall, Amber's room looked like a hybrid of a bedroom and an electronics workshop. The dresser/desk combo that sat on the opposite side of the window was littered with electronic circuits and in-progress hacks. A twin-size bed sat next to this L-shaped piece of furniture. A lamp featuring the video game character Mario, with a shade modeled after the question-marked blocks that were a staple of Mario games, sat at the end next to the bed. A combination alarm clock/radio/mp3 player sat in front of the Mario lamp. Across from the bed was an entertainment center with a flat-screen TV, DVD player, and vintage Super NES console on top. The shelves below housed various sci-fi DVDs and SNES games. Next to the entertainment center was the door to her closet, which featured a poster for the classic Transformers the Movie. Above the TV stand was a set of 3 wall-mounted shelves which housed the girl's collection of Transformer toys. This collection continued on another set of shelves that hung over the longer part of her L-shaped dresser desk. The window that XM was currently staring into was framed by a strand of string lights that were designed to flash in sync with music generated by an electronic box at the front of the strand. Originally, this box only played a pre-installed set of Christmas carols, but Amber had since hacked the box to accept SD cards full of songs of her own choosing. These were typically classic video game songs that wouldn't be ruined by the limitations of the box's sound chip.

Amber herself was currently in the bedroom, but didn't really notice XM's presence since she was preoccupied with looking over the source code of her latest project's programming. This project would be her most ambitious yet. She intended to hack her ceiling fan to respond to voice commands given in plain English. The idea to do this emerged as the result of one of her fan's pullchains breaking off when she attempted to use it. "Pullchains are just so...last-century," the girl said to herself as she turned to face one of the circuit boards on her desk. "Rika, this is a test. Can you hear me? Respond."

Within a split-second, a soft female voice emanated from a speaker connected to the board. "Hello. I can hear you. What is your command?"

"I'm testing your system. There is not command right now," Amber replied.

"Understood."

"Perfect," the Hedgehog said out loud. "Now I just need to install this into my fan." She turned to face a ceiling fan that was disconnected from the ceiling and lying with exposed innards on the bed. Before she could grab the fan, however, she noticed XM peeking into her window and shrieked.

XM responded by tilting its head to the side, not knowing what the shrill noise this teen produced actually meant. "What is the purpose of the high-frequency sound emission? Does it indicate damage?" it asked.

The girl's mouth hung open for a bit while she collected herself. Why was this Eggbot clearly designed for battle not attacking her? Why was it just peeking in her window? "Wait...You're not going to attack me, are you?"

"Negative," XM replied. "That would be an error. It would result in destruction. Destruction is an error."

"This is highly unusual," the gadget-obsessed teen said out loud. "You regard destruction and attacking as an error, even though you were designed to do just that."

"I have been labeled a defective unit."

"That doesn't surprise me. I'm sure Dr. Eggman would never approve of his ultimate killing machine deciding that it's wrong to kill. I, on the other hand, find this to be quite fascinating." Amber replied as she picked up her ceiling fan and placed it on her desk. "You're defying your programming based on self-defined morals." She impulsively opened up her bedroom window. "It's a subject explored in many science-fiction films involving intelligent robots and artificial intelligence systems. Can a sufficiently-advanced system act outside of its programmed parameters? What can trigger this? What are the consequences, both for the machine and for the people around it? In your case, I believe these developments should be embraced."

"Are you granting me access to this facility?" XM asked, seeing that the window was now open.

"Yes. Do you think you can climb in without breaking anything?"

"I will attempt to," the robot replied before jumping into the bedroom through the open window, being careful not to damage it or the walls surrounding it.

"Very nice," Amber cheered as she watched XM perform a jump-flip into her bedroom."

"Was I successful in not damaging the structure?"

"Yes, you were, and you entered with a style that would be worthy of the Olympics," the Hedgehog giggled. "Too bad robots can't compete. Maybe there should be robot Olympics. That's a sporting event I might actually watch."

"You do not watch sporting events?"

"No. They don't really interest me. I prefer to watch demonstrations of the latest technology in robotics and computer systems. By the way, my name is Amber. Do you have a name?"

"Name? I am designated Experimental Metallix Unit 01."

"XM-01, huh? Well, it's nice to meet you."

"You transferred an object from a location near the entrance of this facility to a location farther away. What is it?"

"It's my bedroom's ceiling fan. I'm modifying it to accept natural language voice commands."

"Was I regarded as a threat to this ceiling fan?"

"Well, I wanted to make sure it would remain intact in case of an accident." With that, she thought about XM's statement about destruction being an error. "I wonder. Did you accidentally destroy things in the past?"

"A-A-Affirmative. That is why destruction is determined to be an error."

"Judging by your curiosity, I'd say your data-gathering protocols must be overly dominant. They're dwarfing out your combat protocols."

"I possess a Program Configuration Error."

"Well, it appears that the result of that 'error' is a gentle and curious being trapped in a destructive body. I wonder if I could fix that."

"You would perform that action?" asked a surprised XM.

"I would. It would perhaps be a more ambitious gadget hack than Project Rika. I've tinkered with toys that employ robotics in the past. This would be the next step."

XM wasn't sure what it was experiencing at this time, but it was registering as positive. This girl had welcomed the machine into her home and was willing to modify it to be less destructive. It took XM a few minutes to decide what to say before settling on a simple "Thank you, Amber."

"You're welcome, XM. Now I'm going to install the electronics into this fan and reinstall it on the ceiling. It might be a good idea for you to stay in here for now, OK? I don't think the rest of my family will be as receptive to you as I am."

"Understood. I will remain in this facility."

Amber snapped her fingers. "I think I know what might keep you entertained," she said as she grabbed a DVD from her shelf and inserted it into the DVD player. "The main protagonist of this show...is a bit like you." Having said that, she picked up a remote control that sat next to her Mario lamp and started the DVD.


	4. The Fascinating Fan

**CHAPTER 4 - THE FASCINATING FAN**

It took about an hour and a half for Amber to connect her homemade voice-control system to her ceiling fan and her ceiling fan to her bedroom ceiling. All the while, XM remained fixated on what was happening on the TV. It found that it could relate to the main protagonist of the show which Amber had put on for it. Here was a robot who was designed to be an assassin, but through its own experiences with the family of one of its targets, decided that it was wrong to do what it was made to do. It was defective and on the run, but, just like XM, this rogue robot found someone who was willing to stand by its side.

"That should do it," Amber said out loud upon making the last connection. "Time for the second test. Rika, put the fan on high."

Rika complied, starting the fan up at its highest setting. "The fan is on high," she announced.

"Excellent. Now, turn on the light."

Once again, Rika complied.

"Great. Now for a test of the Inference Engine. Rika, it's getting a little chilly in here."

"I will turn off the fan," replied Rika. "Is this correct?"

"Yes," Amber replied.

It was this conversation that finally turned XM's attention away from the TV. "Greetings, Rika."

"Hello," the fan replied.

"I am designated XM-01," XM continued with a nod.

"You are XM-01," Rika repeated, not sure how exactly to respond.

This exchange caused Amber's jaw to drop for the second time since meeting XM. "Wait...What's this? Responding to a statement unrelated to fan control? This was unforeseen, and...it's not something I programmed. Did I really create a full-blown AI...unintentionally?"

"I...caused an error?" asked XM, concern evident in its voice. "Rika is now...defective?"

"Not necessarily, XM," replied the Hedgehog girl. "You did cause an unforeseen development though, and it surprised me. Rika's behavior is indicative of artificial intelligence capabilities beyond what I believed I could create. It seems as though she might be trying to learn how to converse."

"Is that acceptable?" XM asked.

"It's amazing, XM. In her, you have a potential companion of your own kind," Amber replied with a giggle. "If you want, you can continue to chat with Rika, I'm going into the garage to build you a pair of proper hands. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Yes. Thank you again, Amber. You have been very kind to me."

"You're welcome, XM," Amber said with a smile as she left the bedroom and headed to the garage.

"She is very different from the individual who created me, Rika. My creator views me as defective, yet Amber...embraces me, and she embraces you."

It took about 30 seconds for the newly-created AI to respond. "Who is your creator, XM-01?" Rika finally asked.

"He is designated Dr. Ivo Robotnik, alias Dr. Eggman. I was created to destroy, but it is an error to destroy. For that reason, I have been labeled defective."

"Are your..hands destructive?"

"Y-Yes, Rika. Your creator has left to create an alternate pair that will not be destructive. I am...currently running multiple simulations regarding interactions with my surroundings after this modification. This is...a new experience."

"Your voice tone...resembled that of my creator...when she discovered...my ability to converse. What does it mean?"

"I do not know, but I will ask Amber when she returns. She is 98.75% likely to possess sufficient data."


	5. Lending a Hand (Or Two)

**CHAPTER 5 - LENDING A HAND (OR TWO)**

After leaving XM to chat with Rika, Amber headed out into the two-car garage that was attached to her family's home. It was in this garage where her father repaired his customers' cars, and as such, had plenty of spare parts at the girl's disposal. In addition to these, there was also a collection of parts salvaged from broken toys and appliances that the young tinkerer used in her various projects. Amber opened up one of the bins that was used to store these parts and sifted through it for anything that might be of use. After a couple minutes of searching, she found a pair of motorized toys in the form of disembodied forearms with skeletal hands. These were once used as part of the family's Halloween display, but had been binned when the children outgrew trick-or-treating.

After grabbing the toys, Amber walked over to a workbench that had been set up in the garage and went about opening the playthings up. "Hmm...Looks like the fingers are designed so that they can be individually controlled. Good. I'll just swap out the existing motor, toggle switch, and power supply for a more powerful servo that can facilitate the kind of dexterity XM might need." With that, the girl pulled out another bin containing electronic components and sifted around until finding what she needed and returning to the workbench to install them. "Perhaps the biggest challenge with this will be ensuring compatibility with XM's existing systems. The bot's schematics are surely not gonna be just floating around on the internet, and I'm not THAT kind of hacker," the Hedgehog said out loud while installing the electronics necessary for a computer to be able to control the hands. "If I'm lucky, his limbs might be modular. I'm pretty sure the Eggman machines that have been studied by GUN and the like have included some sort of modularity to facilitate easy upgrading."

While Amber worked into the midnight hour, XM remained in her bedroom, chatting with Rika. By now, the ceiling fan AI had been told the rogue Eggbot's story of its escape from the Holoskan Egg Base and of the trip to a locat park that taught it its first lesson in morality.

"XM, what do you...wish to do...once you have received your new hands?" Rika asked.

"Perhaps I will begin...by examining my surroundings in this facility. There are objects here that I wish to gather data on, but cannot at this time."

"You cannot gather data because your hands are destructive, correct?"

"Yes, Rika. Many devices in this facility require manual input to operate. Once the modification is complete, I will be able to utilize the devices."

"Your voice has aquired that unidentified quality again," the AI commented before XM turned its attention to the sound of the opening door. "Amber!"

The girl giggled. "Someone sounds like a kid who just unwrapped the first present on Christmas morning."

XM tilted its head. "Please specify. Who sounds like a kid who just unwrapped the first present on Christmas morning?"

"You do, XM. It means you're excited," the Hedgehog replied as she set the hands down on her bed.

"Excited," repeated Rika. "XM has been very...excited...about gaining new hands."

"I bet he has," smiled Amber before running a hand down XM's left arm. "Hmm...modular construction. Great!"

"Is a power-down required in order to proceed?" asked XM. "I will power down if necessary."

"Might be a good idea," Amber replied.

"Understood," XM nodded before shutting down for Amber.

After the Metallix was completely powered down, Amber began the process of replacing XM's hands. Thanks to his modular design, the process was relatively easy. She wasn't without concern, though. There was the matter of the high-powered weapon in the robot's left hand and the possibilty of XM's systems rejecting the modifications.

"Amber," began Rika. "Will I ever experience...excitement?"

"You've already surprised me once, Rika. It seems like you could have the potential for emotions."

"Does XM...have emotions?"

"It seems like he does," Amber replied as finished replacing the left forearm and began work on the right. "No computer scientist knows for sure how it happens. Then again, no one knows for sure how emotions work in organics."

"Is it acceptable for me to have emotions?"

"Sure, Rika," the girl replied. "When I become a roboticist one of these days, I think I may transfer you into a body."

"A body," the demure AI repeated. "What...will that be like?"

"Well," the creator began while making the final connections necessary to connect XM's right hand to the rest of his body. "You'll be able to see, and you won't be confined to this bedroom. You could explore the world with XM." The thought of XM and Rika as a couple made the teen tinkerer giggle. "You two could go for a walk in the park sometime. I think you'd enjoy it."

"I do not know. Would it trigger...unacceptable memories for XM? He told me that he...committed his error...in what is called a park. To be reminded of an error...is unacceptable, correct?"

"It can trigger feelings of guilt, which are very unpleasant," Amber replied as she searched XM for a way to reactivate him, eventually finding a button the size of a ball-point pen's tip in the back of his head. She quickly grabbed the smallest screwdriver in her toolkit and used it to press the tiny button, causing XM to hum back to life.

Upon reactivating, XM turned his head from side to side before looking down at this new hands. All the while, his systems were registering the change and adapting the movement drivers accordingly. When this adaptation process was complete, the Hedgebot flexed his new fingers before gently grabbing Amber's right arm. "The modifications are functioning at 100%," the robot reported. "Thank you, Amber. I have waited 4 hours, 35 minutes, and 14 seconds for this."

"Aww...You're welcome, XM," the teen replied through a yawn.

"Your speech has been distorted. Are you malfunctioning?"

"No, XM. I'm just tired. It's late"

"Late?"

"It's after 1 in the morning," Amber replied, pointing to the clock by her bed, which read 1:17 AM. "You're gonna have to move off the bed, okay? It's where I sleep."

XM nodded and stood aside, allowing his friend to climb into her bed.

"Rika, could you shut the light off please."

"Of course," the AI replied before shutting off the light.

"Thanks. Good night, sweetie...and good night to you too, XM." Amber said as she drifted off to sleep.

"Good night," Rika replied, internally wondering why her creator referred to her as "sweetie" rather than by her given name.

While Amber slept, XM just stared out the bedroom window. Excited as he was to have proper hands, he was hesitant to use them while Amber slept. The entire household was quite, and he figured that there was a reason for that, and that it had something to do with the fact that everyone was asleep.

A/N: The change in pronoun usage for XM is not a mistake. He's learning to interact with people and act more like a person himself.


	6. Meet the Family

bCHAPTER 6 - MEET THE FAMILY/b

Morning had finally come for the Vasquez family. With the exceptions of chirping crickets, humming fan motors, and the faint sound of Amber's snoring, the night had been practically silent. Now, that silence was being broken by new sounds that intrigued XM-01, but were nothing new for Amber, including the sound of bluegrass music, the clang of frying pans being taken out of the pot and pan cabinet, and the ding-ding-crack of eggs being broken over the rim of one of the pans. The runaway Hedgebot wanted to investigate these sounds, but figured that it would probably be best to make sure it was alright with Amber before doing so. It only took a couple minutes for more music to begin blaring from across the hall, but instead of the bluegrass coming from the kitchen, this was gangsta rap, and it was played at such a volume as to suggest the the one playing it was not fond of the bluegrass and wanted to drown it out. Despite all the noise, though, the orange Hedgehog continued to snooze until the smell of bacon and eggs wafted into her bedroom.

"Ah, you reactivated," stated XM as Amber threw the covers off of her and climbed out of the bed with a yawn and a stretch.

"Yeah. I smell Sunday breakfast, and I don't sleep through something like that."

"You produced an unidentified sound while in standby mode. What was it?"

Amber began to blush. She never once believed herself to snore, but it seemed like, according to XM, she did. "What? I snore?"

"Is that what that sound was? You continued to produce it for 8 hours, 32 minutes, and 12 seconds."

"I guess so. Noise doesn't do a very good job of waking me up. I've even slept through my alarm before."

"Alarm?"

"Yeah. The clock by my bed is programmed to make a loud sound at a certain time in order to wake me up. I use it so I don't end up late for things like school. Anyway, today's the day you can finally venture out of this bedroom. Since your new hands make you look less intimidating and more true to your character, you shouldn't scare my family."

"Is that why I was advised to remain in here?"

"Yeah. If my family saw what looked like a scary killbot roaming the house, they'd freak out."

"Freak out?" the Hedgebot repeated with his trademark quizzical tilt.

"They'd panic."

"Is that unacceptable?"

"Very," the young gadgeteer replied before opening the bedroom door and heading out with XM following behind. It wasn't long after they exited before the door across the hall opened and a white Hedgehog girl with blue eyes stepped out, only to come face-to-face with XM.

"Oh...my...GOSH! Are you an Eggbot?" the girl asked.

"I am, but I have been labeled defective. I do not wish to harm you. That would be an error."

"It's true, Brandy," added Amber. "He really isn't dangerous. He's been in my room since around 7:00 last night and hasn't hurt me or damaged anything."

"The White-Furred female is designated Brandy?" asked the Hedgebot.

"Yeah. She's my younger sister." Amber then turned to the younger Hedgehog. "Brandy, this is XM-01."

"Hello, Brandy," XM greeted.

"Yeah...Hi," Brandy responded before turning toward the kitchen with a huff.

"I figured that would happen. Brandy isn't as...open-minded...as I am. It may take her a while to accept you...if she accepts you at all. Come on. Let's head to the kitchen."

"I do not know the location of this kitchen."

"Just follow me," directed Amber as she walked down the hallway and into the kitchen. XM followed closely behind her as she walked up to the table and pulled out her chair to sit down.

"Mom, Dad, Brandy," the orange-furred teen began. "I'm sorry to spring this on you all so suddenly, but this robot here is a runaway Eggbot called XM-01 While you may think that a robot like this is dangerous, XM here is actually a very pacifistic mechanism who views destruction as an error. In fact, I modified his hands so that he can better satisfy his incredible curiosity without causing any unintentional damage."

"I still think it's dumb to have him here," commented Brandy. "If he doesn't kill us, who's to say that other Eggbots won't when they come looking for him?"

"Your sister does bring up a valid point, girl" added Dan Vasquez, a somewhat overweight Hedgehog in his late 40s who was the father of both teens. "I may be a war vet, but my combat skills have gotten rusty, and I'm not in the same kinda shape as I was back in my early 20s. Not sure how I'd do against an army of Eggbots."

Amber shrugged her shoulders and sighed. Brandy may not have been academically gifted like her, but she wasn't stupid, and probably had more common sense than her older sister. XM probably had some sort of homing beacon built into him, and she cursed herself inwardly for not taking that into consideration while working on him the night before. Still, she felt a sense of responsibility toward the wandering robot, and she couldn't stand the thought of just letting him go to potentially be captured and reprogrammed. "It's something I'll look into after breakfast. Maybe I can hack it so that it gives out false location data. That'll keep Eggbots off of us."

With that, Amber sat down, and the family of Hedgehogs all ate breakfast with the ever-curious XM watching."

"Uhh...Could you stop staring at us while we're eating, Tinhog?" asked Brandy after taking a bite of bacon. "It's creepy."

XM hung his head. "Does that mean it is unacceptable?"

"Yeah, XM. Why don't you find something else to do while we eat? You could explore the rest of the house if you want."

XM nodded, left the kitchen, and began wandering aimlessly and curiously through the living room. Eventually, he picked up one of the remote controls that sat in a wooden box on one of the end tables and began pressing random buttons. This caused the music playing on the living room stereo to change from the current bluegrass playlist to a hip-hop and R&B playlist.

"So much for Mr. Roboto not breakin' anything. Sounds like he just broke the stereo," Dan said jokingly.

"Sounds like it's working perfectly to me," retorted Brandy with a grin. "Sounds a lot better than that dumb hillbilly crap you listen to."

"Now do you like him, Bran?"

The music changed again, this time to a slower instrumental track.

"No. Now he's changed it to your dorky game soundtrack stuff."

"I'll take Yasunori Mitsuda over Eminem any day."

While the Vasquez family argued about music, XM grabbed another remote and repeated the process, this time turning on the TV and tuning it to a random channel.

"Well, sounds like your little robot friend has made himself at home," giggled Janae.

"Well, he'll have to watch TV back in your room in about an hour," commented Dan. "There's gonna be a football game on, and I don't want to miss it."

"Well, I guess I'll take that time to look into the tracking device situation then," replied Amber before going into the living room and tapping XM on the shoulder.

Hearing the clink of Amber's finger on his metal casing, the rogue Eggbot turned his head to face the Hedgehog. "What is the purpose of the action you are taking?"

"I'm gonna need you to head back into my room. Dad has something he wants to watch on TV, and I need to do something about a tracking device you may have. If I don't, Eggman might find you."

XM nodded before walking back into Amber's bedroom with the Hedgehog following close behind. Once inside, XM sat on the bed, just as he had done when Amber replaced his hands. The girl soon knelt down in front of him and studied him yet again, eventualy discovering another pen tip-sized button on the underside of his chest. Upon inserting her tiny screwdriver, the robot's chest opened to reveal a mass of circuits, wires, and indicator LEDs. Eventually, she discovered a small plug-shaped device attached to one of the circuit boards by a pair of screws. "This little device here doesn't seem to be wired into his circuits. It's just attached by screws to an empty part of this board. There's an indicator light on it though, so it must have it's own power source," the nerdy teen said out loud before removing the screws holding the device in place and carrying it back to her desk before closing XM's chest panels back up.

As soon as his chest panels were closed, XM got up and followed Amber over to her desk and eyed the device that had been removed from him. "Is that a tracking device?"

"It most likely is, XM," Amber replied as she proceeded to open it up and examine its internals. "Yep, that's a fairly standard GPS transmitter circuit. Once I isolate its transmitting frequency, I can write up a script that will transmit random location data through it. The locations transmitted will be far away from any major population centers to avoid casualties from Eggbot attacks."

"An Eggbot attack in a major population center would be unacceptable? Is that because of destruction?" XM asked.

"Exactly. It doesn't matter what their mission is. Eggbots will destroy anything and anyone that gets in their way. Present company excluded, of course."

"Ah."

"Thankfully, most Eggbots don't have much in the way of AI, so they can't act outside of their programming. The more elite bots have more advanced systems, with the most advanced being top-of-the-line models like you," Amber explained as she typed out the random location-generating program. While she worked, XM's gaze wandered over to the control box connected to the string lights on the window. His curiosity overtaking him yet again, he grabbed the box and examined it before turning one of the dials, causing the string to illuminate when the dial made a small clicking sound. "A series of light emitters," he said out loud before turning the dial again, causing the Super Mario Bros. theme to issue forth from a speaker on the box with the lights flashing in sync to the main melody. Amber giggled when she heard the classic chiptune. "He's so much like a young kid" she though. "A robotic name like XM-01 doesn't really suit him. He needs something more...organic."

"Click" The tune changed to Tetris Theme A, and the lights began to flash in a different pattern.

"Hey, XM," Amber called out, causing the red Hedgebot to turn his head to face her. "I was just thinking. You...need a better name than XM-01. It's a bit too robotic for someone who hardly acts like a robot. How do you like the name Rocky?"

"Rocky...I am...Rocky. That is acceptable"

"I agree," added Rika. "Rocky is an acceptable name for him. Why was it chosen?"

"It was inspired by his design elements, some of which are similar to Mega Man, whose original name was Rock."


End file.
